Canederli in Broth: Recipe from The South Tirol
This warming and filling Italian bread dumplings recipe is a delicious way to use up stale bread. Cooked in homemade broth this is Alpine comfort food at its best.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 8-10 slices stale bread ((quite thick))
- 200 ml warm milk ((1 cup))
- 200 g speck ((7oz) or bacon cut into small cubes)
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
- 50 g Parmigiano cheese ((1/4 cup 2oz) grated)
- 40 g all purpose flour ((1/3 cup 1.5oz))
- 30 g butter ((1oz))
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg (grated)
- 6 tbsp fresh parsley (chopped)
- salt (to taste)
- pepper (to taste)
- 2 Lts beef broth ((8.5 cups) or chicken or vegetable)
Instructions
- 1
Cut the bread into small squares and put it in a bowl. Add the milk and beaten eggs. Mix everything together and leave covered for up to 2 hours. Mix again a couple of time in the 2 hours.
- 2
If making your own broth you can do it while the bread is soaking. The broth needs to be filtered before cooking the canederli in it.
- 3
Cut the speck into small cubes and peel and finely chop the onion. Cook the speck and onions in olive oil and butter for 5 to 8 minutes in a skillet over a medium heat, or until the speck starts to crisp. Pour off and discard fat. Set pan aside to cool.
- 4
Using your hands, mix together the pre-soaked bread with the onions and speck, grated parmigiano, 4 to 5 tablespoons of chopped parsley, salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Add the flour and mix again. Leave the mixture to rest for 30 minutes.
- 5
Form soft balls from the canederli mixture of about 8-10 cms in diameter (3-4 ins) (You can make balls bigger or smaller but you may need to adjust cooking time.) Place the dumplings on a floured surface until you have made them all.
- 6
Bring the broth to a simmer and drop the canederli, one at a time, into the heated broth. Don’t overcrowd the pan. You may have to do them in batches and keep warm while you cook the rest. Simmer the dumplings for 15 minutes, or until each turns slightly yellow and rises to the top. Remove balls carefully with a slotted spoon.
- 7
Serve one or two dumplings per bowl, covered with heated broth. Garnish with remaining parsley and more grated parmigiano.